Hook and eye



(No Model.)

WITNESSES Patented May l6, |899..

W. H. CBIST.

HOOK AND ,EYE.

(Application med Mar. 10, 1897.)

ZNVENTOR m: cams PETERS co. PNOTBLITHQ. wAsHiuuToN n c NITED STATESPATENT I OFFICE.

HOOK ANDEY'E.

SPECIFICATION. formingpart of Letters Patent No. 625,022, dated May 16,1899. Application filed March 1.0, 1897- Serial No. 626,716. (No model.)

in the artto which it appertains tomake and 1 use the same.

My invention relates to hooks and eyes, and

' particularly to a hook designed for use in con- I engaging withcontiguous portions of the garment by which the hook is carried.

A further object of the invention is to pro- Vide such means for closingthe throat of the hook as can yield only by the flexing of the hook-billand not through any yielding quality inherent in the stop.

A serious disadvantage of the ordinary form of hook for the purposenamed resides in the fact that the extremity of the bill is liable tocatch in the meshes of lace and other light fabrics and cause thedrawing or tearing thereof or at least inconvenience the wearer by thenecessity of carefully disengaging said portion of the fabric. It is,therefore, a primary object of my invention, as above indicated, toprovide a simple form of hook wherein the throat is completely closed,so as to exclude portions of-garments in connection with which thedevice may be usedand to so round or convex the extremity of thehook-bill as to afford no means for engagement with such articles.

The second-named object of my invention, being that of preventingindependent yielding movement of the stop which is used to close thethroat of the hook, I deem of importance, for the reason that ayielding'stop, being exposed to the strainsincident to engaging the eyewith and disengagingthe same from the h0ok,is liable to affect thedurability of the device and at the same time increase the cost ofmanufactu re thereof.

A further and less important object of my invention is to provide such aconstruction of hook as may be struck from a single blank ofcross-sectionally rou'nd wire, no flattening or other manipulation ofthe device subsequent to the bending thereof being required in order tocomplete the article.

Further objects and ad vantages of this invention will appear in thefollowing description, and the novel features thereof will beparticularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of ahook constructed inaccordance with 'my invention with an eye of the ordinary form engagedtherewith. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the hook. Fig. 3 is a side view ofthe same.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding partsin all thefigures of the drawings.

The hook 1 embodying my invention is shown in the drawings engaged withan eye 2 of the ordinary construction, said hook being struck from asingle blank of cross-sectionally round wire, and comprising,essentially, a two-ply shank 3, of which the sides or members 4 are incontact throughout, and a twoply hook-bill 6, of which also the membersare in contact throughout. These two-ply or plural-strand hook-bill andshank are formed from 'a blank of wire doubled upon itself at its centerto arrange the sides in contact, and at an intermediate point thesesides are again doubled upon themselves in a plane perpendicular to thatof the first-named fold to form r a loop, of which one side forms thehook-bill and the other the shank, whereby the strands or plies of thehook-bill occupy positions in a plane parallel with those of the shank.Thus the extremity of the shank is formed by the free ends of the blankfrom which the hook is formed, and these extremities are coiledoutwardly to form attaching-eyes 5, adapted to be secured in theordinary or any preferred manner to the garment,while the extremity ofthe hook-bill is formed-by the central or first-formed loop of theblank. This looped portion of the blank is folded inwardly or toward theplane of the shank to form a coiled stop-eye 7, approximately round, andwith the end thereof formed by said central loop of the blank in contactwith the inner or under side of the hook-bill, whereby the stopeye isrigid with relation to the hook-bill and is non-yielding independentlyof the hookbill. This stop-eye closes the throat of the hook, wherebythe eye 2 cannot enter the hook except by separating said stop-eye fromthe shank or increasing the interval there- .between, and the.outWardly-convexed construction of the stop-eye enables this separationto be accomplished by a forcible pressure of the eye against said stop.Obviously the passage of the eye 2 beyond the stop is followed by thereturn of the stop to its normal position to close the throat of thehook, whereby the accidental disengagement of the eye is prevented.

The exteriorly-convexed construction of the stop-eye affords noextremity or projection capable of engaging with an article ofwearing-apparel, such as lace or the equivalent thereof, whereas theproper engagement of the eye 2 with the hook may be accom plished withlittle more effort-than is necessary in connection with the ordinaryhook and eye. It will be seen, furthermore, that being constructed of asingle blank of cross sectionally round wire the hook embodying myinvention may be manufactured at a small cost, such manufactureconsisting simply in the initial doubling of the blank at its center andthe subsequent doubling or folding thereof at an intermediate point in aplane perpendicular to the first fold to form the approximately parallelhook-bill and shank,each of which is two-ply and of which the free endsconsist, respectively, of the looped center of the blank and theextremities of the blank. The looped end of the blank is coiled inwardlyor under the plane of the hook-bill to partly close the throat of thehook, the looped extremity bearing against the under side of thehook-bill to prevent independent movement of the stop, While theextremities of the blank are coiled outwardly to form theabove-described attaching-eyes. This inturned coil, which forms thestop-eye 7 and which bears terminally against the inner or under side ofthe hook-billto partly close the throat of the hook, is of a diametersomewhat less than the width of the hook-throat, but is of sufficientsize to prevent the accidental disengagement of an eye from the hook orthe engagement thereof without pressing outwardly upon the stop-eye, andthus deflecting the latter, with the hook-bill, from the normal positionoccupied thereby, it being understood that the contact of the extremityof the coil with the inner or under side of the hook-bill prevents theyielding of the coil independently of the bill.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- The herein-describedhook member of a garment-fastener, the same consisting of a loopedblank, of which the parallel sides are bent at an intermediate point toform a shank portion 4 and a hook-bill 6, and of which the center, atthe extremity of the hook-bill, is turned under, or toward the shankportion, to form an exteriorly-convexed coil 7, to prevent the extremityof the hook-bill from engaging adjacent portions of a garment, thethroat of the hook-bill being approximately closedby said coil, and thelatter being held from yielding, independently of the hook-bill, by thecontact of the loop with the under or inner surface of the hook-bill,substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence ofthe subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM HENRY ORIST.

Witnesses:

MAX L. MITCHELL, THOS. H. HAMMOND, JAMES Yosr.

